Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-12-23
CHAPTER ".
TIE SECOND SOWING.

1t is no part of mine to narrate the adven-
lures of John Nicholson, which were many,
but simply his more momentous misadven-
lures, which were more than ne desired, and,
by human standards, more than he deserved;
how he reached California how he was
rocked, and robbed, and beaten, and starved;
how he was at last taken up by charitable
folk restored to some degree of self COM
placency and installed as n clerk in a bank
in San Francisco, it would take too long to
tell; nor in these episodes were there any
marks of the peculiar Nicholsonc destiny,
for they were just such matters as befell
some thousands of other young adventures
in the same days and places But once posted
in the bank, he fell for time into IA high de-
gree of good fortune, which, as it was only a
longer way about to fresh disaster, it be-
hooves me to explain.
1t was his luck to meet a young man in
what is technically called q dive" and,
thanks to his monthly wages, to extricate
this new acquaintance from position of
present disgrace and possible danger in the
future This young man was the nephew of
one of the Mob hill magnates, who run the
San Francisco Stock Exchange, much as more
humble adventures, in the corner of some
public park at home, may be seen to perform
the simple artiiiCe of pea and thimbe-for
their own profit, that is TO say, and the dis
couragement of public gambling 1t was
thus in his power-and, as he was of grateful
temper, it was among the things that he de-
sired-to put John in the way of growing
rich; and thus, without thought or industry,
or SO much as even understanding the game
at which he played, but by simply buying
and selling what he was told to buy and sell,
that plaything of fortune was presently at
the head of between eli 900 and El2, 900, or,
as he reckoned it, of upward of $4,000
How he had come to deserve this wealth,
any more than how he had formerly earned
disgrace at home, was problem beyond the
reach of his philosophy. 1t was true that he
had been industrious at the bank, but no
more so than the cashier, who had seven
small children and was visibly sinking in de-
cline. Nor was the step which had deter
mined his advance-a visit to a dive with a
months wages in his pocket-an act of such
| transcendent virtue, or even wisdom, as to
! seem to merit the favor of the gods. From
some sense of this, and Of the dizzy seesaw-
heaven high, hell deepen which men sit
| clutchng, or perhaps fearing that the sources
| of his fortune might be insidiously traced to
some root in the field of petty cash, he stuck
To uis work said not a word of his new cir
|
| IN a different quarter of the town. The con-
| csalment innocent as it seems, was the first
! step in the second tragi-comedy of Johns eX-
! istence
Meanwhile, he had never written home
| Whether from diffidence or shame, or a
touch of anger, or mere procrastlnation, or
| because las we have seem he had no skill in
| literary arts, or because las | am sometimes
/ tempted to suppose there is a law in human
| nature that prevents young men-not other
| wise beasts-frOm the performance Of this
simple act of piety-months and years had
/ gone by, and John had never written. The
! habit of not writing, indeed, was already
fixed before he had begun to come into his
! fortune, and it was only the difficulty of
/ breaking his long silence that withheld him
from an instant restitution of the money he
j. n stolen or Jas he preferred to call III bor-
roWcd. In vain he sat before paper, attend
, ing ON inspiration; that heavenly nymph, be
! You'd suggesting the words my dear father, y
remained obStinately silent; and presently
John would crunple up the sheet and decide,
Us soon as he had good chance to carry
the money home in person And this delay,
which was indefensble, was his second step
into the snares of fortune.
Ten years had passed and John was draw
ms hcui W wv iiN hSlb WIG IA'iiloo VI ms
boyhood and was now of lusty frame,
vcrging toward corpuence; good features,
good eyes, a genial manner "A ready laugh,
n long pair of sandy whiskers, dash of an
American accent, close familiarity with
the great American joke and n certain
likeness to a Ry-l P-rs-a-ge, who shall re-
main nameless for me, made up this mans
externals as he could be viewed in society,
Inwardly, in spite of his gross body and
highly masculine whiskers, he was more like
a maiden lady than n man of 20
1t CHANGED one day, as he was Stfollins
down Market street on the eve of his fort
nights holiday, that his eye was caught 10y
certain railway bills and i'll very idleneSS OF
mind he calculated that he might he home
tor Christmas if he started on the morrow
The fancy thrilled him with desire, and il
one moment he decided he would go.